Nighttime Sleep Study

Show up at 7:30 pm with a 2 piece pajama and any medicine you need. Sounds pretty simple. But in reality, sleeping has become quite the ritual of pillow placement and angle elevation for me of late. So I drag along the various pillows that enable me to get comfy enough to sleep, and an entire bookbag of reading that I need to accomplish. At least I can appreciate using the time productively if I have to be here almost 24 hours.

The staff are very welcoming, greet me at the front door and show me to my "suite." I am surprised that the person who will be assisting me is male, but I guess that will work. Its a bit creepy thinking that anyone will watch me snore and drool. He explains the drill and tells me he will be back around 9 pm to wire me up and tuck me in.


I unpack, slip into a tee shirt and pair of shorts (I always sleep in a nightgown - this is weird), and crawl into bed to read. There is no comfortable sitting chair in the room. Too soon, my aide returns and the process begins. He glues wires to my head in various places, alongside my eyes, on my legs with wires that run up over my shoulder, across my chest. I get a nose plug with thermometers to measure the temperature of the air coming from my nose and my mouth. Do they really think anyone can sleep with all this stuff stuck to them?


Here we go. He exits the room, assuring me that if I need anything, I only have to call his name and he will come. He can talk to me if he needs to, and will be watching me via camera with infrared light. Interesting. I go through my normal contortions of trying to get comfortable. One pillow between my knees, one under my arm, the head elevated just so, the foot dangling over the side of the bed. Nothing can touch any other part of my body.


Now I lie still and hope for the hurting to stop. Unfortunately, I have to go to the bathroom, so I call my friend and take care of that. Then the whole process begins again - pillow placement and body alignment and the waiting. It takes much longer tonight - probably the additional stressors. I know I have just about drifted off when I get hit with a coughing spell.


This is my radiation cough thing. There is nothing really there, but my body thinks there is. I sit bolt upright and my aide comes in to see if he can assist. An hour later, after retucking and hurting, I finally fall asleep exhausted, only to wake up because I have to go to the bathroom. Hum. Its going to be a long night. If I get 4 hours of sleep I will be doing well. Good thing they are keeping me all tomorrow and letting me sleep on and off.


It does drive me crazy that they insist on making the room dark. I usually sleep with my curtains open. I prefer the moonlight. Besides, my body is very in tune with the rhythms of the day and night. If I cannot see the sun and moon, my body will get off kilter! At least in the day between forced naps, they let me open the curtain. Still, I spend the day in bed reading because there really isn't any place to sit comfortably.

For the most part, I do not sleep during the enforced nap times. It turns out to be a nice break from the reading, but no real sleep. At last, 5 pm rolls around and I am released to go home. Can you believe it? I am exhausted! Who knew that sleeping all day could make you so tired. At least in my own cozy warm room with the blinds fully raised and the moonlight comfortingly shining, I can get the right pillow placement. I drift off happily, so glad to be in my own bed.